DLA Piper has appointed Richard Hopkinson-Woolley, Laurence Rogers and Neville Wright to its Real Estate sector. The three partners join the firm from BLP.

Richard Hopkinson-Woolley has a broad-ranging commercial real estate practice and advises clients from international investors and developers, banks and real estate funds to small private property companies and high net worth individuals. He has extensive experience in relation to development, investment, joint ventures, forward funding, ground leases etc across a number of sectors including industrials, shopping centres, offices, retail parks and leisure schemes. Richard has headed up one of the Real Estate teams at BLP for the last few years.

Laurence Rogers was formerly Head of Real Estate Finance at BLP. He specialises in all aspects of property finance including investment, development and structured finance, both on UK and pan-European deals for the syndicated and securitisation markets. Laurence acts for a mix of lenders and borrowers.

Neville Wright is a tax lawyer with particular specialisation in property tax. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, structured finance, corporate reorganisations, all aspects of tax planning for property acquisitions and disposals, joint venture structuring, financing or refinancing of properties and capital allowances. Neville advises a wide range of property owners and occupiers including hoteliers, self-storage operators, care home operators and commercial property owners and developers.

Sir Nigel Knowles, Global Co-CEO at DLA Piper, said: "We are delighted to welcome Richard, Laurence and Neville to DLA Piper. The real estate market both in the UK and internationally has been growing steadily for the last year and this trend looks set to continue. The addition of this impressive team is a significant step in the implementation of the firm's strategic commitment to the Real Estate sector."